An incredible location, practical effects, pure rock and roll vibes – and a 12 hour turnaround!
For this video, Tony wanted something epic, a massive location, iconic architecture and lighting, and smoke for days… He also wanted a “real” feel, rather than something purely cinematic – no motion blur, just visceral reality.
So we cranked the camera up to 120FPS, and edited in the same frame rate – although Youtube doesn’t quite know what to do with 120, so the final video is optimized down to 60… but it still has the desired effect!
He suggested a location for the video – but they were all booked up at such short notice – so we stole a long-abandoned building from a friendly landlord, and proceeded to drag our gear over.
There was limited power in the place – and since this was a relatively low budget, every penny had to end up on screen, and there wasn’t anything left over for a generator.
Fortunately, all our gear can run on batteries – plus, it was only going to be a 2-3hr shoot – so it wasn’t even an issue!
The first setup was the main atrium, with decaying brickwork and proud columns standing in the center. We set the drums to be framed by the columns and worked our lighting around them.
With that in the can, we made our way up through the building. There were four floors and a basement to play with, and each floor had its own personality, so each band member was set up on a floor, with different color lighting, and gallons of smoke!
The final setup was Tony with a flare – he was a little hesitant about it, despite it being his idea… But we got the shot in the end, and it was definitely worth the trepidation.
With the video shot, we jumped into the edit, and had a first cut over a couple of hours later. Within 12 hours it was signed off, and the final video was released three weeks later, to rave reviews!
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